Mitchell v. Helms
United States Supreme Court
530 U.S. 793 (2000)
Chapter Two of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 funded educational materials and equipment for both public and private schools, requiring private-school recipients to use the aid only for "secular, neutral, and non-ideological" programs; roughly 30% of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana's Chapter Two funds went to private schools, most of them religiously affiliated. Mary Helms (plaintiff) sued state official Mitchell (defendant), arguing this violated the Establishment Clause; the district court upheld the program, the court of appeals reversed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Whether a statute violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by causing governmental indoctrination, defining recipients by religion, or creating an excessive government entanglement with religion.